Desert road
by Aliniel
Summary: A long trip in an old RV. This is not how Aisha was planning to spend her next few days, but it can't be helped. This is my entry for the EFB discord prompt.


_**This is my entry for the EFB discord prompt. The theme of this prompt was transportation. Enjoy :3**_

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There's a remote village in Bethma know for its wide collection of old and retro cars. Many of its citizens started collecting this vehicles as a hobby and it finally turned into a stacking habit which slowly turned the village into one huge junkyard. Although nobody in there would call it that, for retro car lovers this was actually a paradise. The place hadn't always been like this. Years ago it was a normal farming community that sit quietly at the side of the only road crossing Bethma from Elder to Feita. But this changed when a huge highway was built between the two cities leaving the old desert road almost abandoned. And as it turned out, bikers and speed lovers decided to take over it. Taking advantage of the lack of traffic there, the old road was now a paradise for those who just want to enjoy the road. Eventually biker gangs and underground races started being held on the road and as time passed it became its own subculture.

It was the reason for Aisha to be here. While she isn't interested in car collecting, she received a message from Raven. It was already quite rare to be messaged from him, but the petition he had was even weirder. He wanted Aisha to travel all the way here and buy a specific car to bring it back to Velder. He didn't give any further details on the request and just trusted the young mage his money. When she arrived at the place, she was surprised to find so many different houses owning a garbage full of old car carcasses. The journey here was pretty long, and to make things worse it turned into the worst time in her life because of a really dumb argument with her driver. However, now that she was already here, she carried out the task and put that argument on hold for now. A decision that was clearly come back to bite her ass.

"Sir, may I see the thing first?"

She was at one of these junkyards surrounded by so many dismantled cars that she didn't bothered counting them. Dozens of old cars littered the place, covered in mud and dust from being mostly abandoned. Engine pieces, car accessories and many other small parts filled in every tiny empty spot on the property making it feel slightly oppressive. She was guided to the back, where more and more old stuff was waiting to be sold; and finally saw what she came to retrieve. And old retro styled RV.

It was smaller than any modern RV and contrary to them, this had a round feeling to it. The corners and edges were rounded and the windows were all connected in one single line, compared to the boxy designed modern RVs. The owner tried to make it look better by polishing the exterior and giving it a new red paint job. However for Aisha it was easy to see the tiny defects that showed the RV's age. The grilles had some rust on them, and there was even more of it slowly creeping around the bumpers. The tail lights were filled with mud on the inside and one of them seemed to be broken and the door had so many scratches around the knob that it was painful to look at it. But the retro style somewhat compensated for the defects, and while Aisha would like to bargain to get it for a cheaper price, she was too worried about losing this chance for Raven that she just decided to go along with the original plan.

She did check the insides though. Entering from the side door, the first thing she noticed was how small this was. Modern RVs are not only boxy, but bigger on the inside. While Aisha didn't take any pride in her size, she had to lower her head to walk into the thing, and had a hard time imagining Raven, as tall as he was; moving inside of this thing. There was a corridor connecting the driver and passenger seat with the rest of the interior. At the back a tiny room was completely occupied by a single bed. Immediately next to it there was a tall and narrow drawer on one side and a toilet on the other. The dorm was followed by a cooking counter with a sink and a tiny working space complete with a folding table on the opposite side. The folded table would block the access to the bed when extended so it was kept against the wall. Add some shelves above everything to top it off and finished.

But even inside there were some problems. The upholstered ceiling had seen better days and it was starting to come off, creating some bumps on the fabric. The folding table had rust on the joints, making folding and unfolding it quite hard and the bad had its support broken, leaving it with a sinking mattress. Aisha decided to check for the things Raven wanted to know about the vehicle as well. The brand symbol on the front of the car was, thankfully, lacking any rust. It was a nice rose shaped silver plate. Below it you could read the name of the RV in some nice brass letters: Nexon Rose 2. The same could be read on the back of the car, along with the car plate. It was a custom made one with the letters TIMELESS on it.

"This thing sure is small," Aisha commented. The current owner couldn't disagree to it, specially since he had to wait outside while she check the interior, "Alright, let's wrap this up. I would like to be back home before midnight…"

"Before midnight? Won't you be driving back in the RV?" The owner questioned.

He was the live image of all countrymen stereotypes. Wearing a denim coverall with a plaid skirt underneath, he had a straw hat on his head and a wheat stem on the mouth that he kept playing with while speaking. From the way he shifted it from one side to another Aisha could see three missing teeth and two gold replacements. He had a three day beard sticking out of his face and a disgruntled expression.

"Yeah, why do you ask?" Aisha questioned, and the man started laughing soundly.

"I'm sorry miss but this girl can only travel at 40 KM/h"

Aisha was shocked. She was brought here on her girlfriend's car, a Ferré Monstruo that can reach 300 Km/h and the trip was long enough to spark an argument that put the two of them in a horrible mood. Aisha was already mentally calculating how much it would take for her to get back home when the man coughed to grab her attention.

"So, did you bring the money?"

She gave him the cash Raven sent her and the RV keys and its documentation was given to her. Already feeling tired from the road, Aisha stepped in and started the engine. It made some terrible noise that did not stop once the RV started rolling. A thick gray smoke was shot through the back and the whole thing trembled like crazy while the engine was working. This was going to be a pretty long trip. Every now and them the exhaust pipe would backfire loudly as she drove the RV out of the village.

Aisha couldn't understand why this route has such a huge reputation when it comes to car enthusiasts. It's probably one of the more boring roads she had ever drove through. There was a line of electric post on one side and nothing on the other, followed by an immense sea of nothing. Sand and some rocks, not the most exciting scenario. Being so bored, she allowed herself to get on her phone while driving, not like there was anything here to run into; and text her girlfriend. They ended the argument in a pretty sour note and not getting back home tonight would only make it worse, but not telling her at all would be a really bad choice.

She didn't write an apology either, just informed her girlfriend that she won't be able to get home soon. All the argument started because of their respective jobs. Aisha had been working as a freelance dark magician for a while and, surprisingly not; it's not the busiest career out there. While it was well paid, she would spend most of her days at home. Her girlfriend on the other side was in charge of a huge factory. A pretty delicate one on top of that, which required constant maintenance and care, meaning that she spends nearly the entire day in the factory. While they usually have no problems with this, lately Aisha had been called too many times to work on the tiny time window they have to be together on a daily basis which resulted in her girlfriend asking her to stop her freelancer career, something that Aisha didn't take well.

It was almost lunch time and if there was something missing in the RV, that was a fridge. Good thing she brought some snacks, but that just reminded her that if this journey was going to be so long, she better stops by some of the gas stations on the road to get some food. She parked on the side of the road and unwrapped the chicken sandwich she brought with herself. The sun and the heat was unbearable outside, so she decided to stay inside the RV and hope that Raven won't get mad at her after finding bread crumbs on the RV's bed. After eating she lied down sighing, wondering how mad her girlfriend would be now that she received the message. She didn't answer, which could only mean she was pretty mad at her, or at least that's what Aisha thought.

When she was about to return to the road she saw something interesting. A black RV just passed her. It was a modern design and had what looked like flames painted all over the bodywork. A huge double line of bikes were following it. Aisha could count at least 20 of them. All of them were choppers, with some rare ones mixed in between, painted either black of red and adorned with flames and lewd stickers. At the front of the double line Aisha saw a fiery red mane poking from behind the helmet of a rider before they finally disappeared in the distant.

She wondered if crossing this road like that was fun or exciting. Doing it in a slow RV sure wasn't. She sighed and tried to tune in something on the radio. Her favorite radio station wasn't available here but the _road rock_ stations weren't bad either. Considering that most of it would be covered by the noise of the engine, she ended not paying too much mind to it.

The day was feeling long. Aisha was so bored that she started driving with her feet while looking at her phone. This kind of reckless thing would make her girlfriend really anxious, but it was everyday for a dark magician. She had a huge backlog of stuff to read and watch and this sure was a nice chance to do it but as much as she wanted, she couldn't get into it for some reason. After hours switching between watching or reading things on her phone, she finally spotted the first landmark on the road since she left the village. It was an oasis, right next to the road. A small rocky basin filled with water. The sand on the bottom was clear white and it gave the water a pretty blue color. There was some palm trees growing around it casting a nice shadow on the shore. Aisha didn't think twice and parked the RV. She didn't brought a swimsuit, but at least she could just enjoy the shadow.

Sitting in one of the taller rocks, she took a look at the RV, wondering if Raven was planning to travel around with it. It was going to be a long travel for sure, but on a second thought. Aisha didn't notice this little oasis sitting on the side of the road on her way to the village. She was so concentrated arguing that she just missed it. Or maybe it was something else. She lied down, listening to the gentle flow of the water while thinking about it. To think that they spent the entire trip arguing, even when the car was fast, it was a long trip. She couldn't help but go back to the RV and check her phone. No answer was found and she was starting to get impatient. She returned to the shore and snapped a photo of the oasis.

"Why did she get so angry anyways? I'm just trying to be productive, that's a good thing," Aisha mumbled to herself, attaching the picture to a message for her girlfriend "And she even had to say that of all things…"

In the middle of the argument, Aisha was remembered that "_If you had continued your elemental mastery studies instead of changing into an obscure major with no professional prospect …"_. It was one of the things Aisha most disliked to be told and probably what made the argument much worse than it should. She just sent the picture with no text and got back to the RV.

Night was about to fall when Aisha spotted the shiny neon sign of a motel. Aisha felt relieved since she wasn't willing to spend the night in the RV. For some reason, she felt like doing that would be dangerous. As she arrived at the motel, she saw the black RV and the many bikes from before parked on the outside. The riders were all gathered around a campfire that they made in the middle of the parking lot, celebrating who knows what pretty loudly. She decided to ignore them and go into check up.

The motel wasn't anything special. A single floor with small rooms, each one with a wide window facing the parking and not much more. Unfortunately, when she arrived at the registration, she saw the "_Were closed until tourist season_" sign hung on the door.

"What the hell? Is that even a thing around here?" Aisha complained to herself, kicking the door.

"Hey, calm down babe."

Aisha was startled, she already forgot there was more people here. She looked in the direction of the voice and saw three of the riders approaching her. The one in the middle was a woman with a fiery red mane that she quickly recognized. She was wearing a pretty outrageous outfit: a black leather jacket that she whore open with nothing but a black leather bra beneath and a pairing black leather pants full of holes. Everything was decorated with chromated chains and crosses which Aisha thought it was funny because they paired with the bikes. Next to her there was another girl wearing a black corset dress with a lot of frills and a young boy that shared the same hair and eye color with the first girl, wearing almost the same, except the bra.

"Ah, I'm sorry, I didn't want to bother you…"

"Don't sweat it girl. Are you traveling along the road too? You can call me Elesis." She said, and pointed at the two behind her "Ara and my little bro Elsword."

"I-I'm Aisha," She said. She didn't felt the aggressive aura one would expect from a bikers gang to have, but she still wasn't sure of what they wanted. This was one of these situations that she wouldn't have willingly walked in, however Aisha was far from being a defenseless little girl. Not only she was decently fit, if the time to throw a fight were to come, she knew some spell that packed a nice punch.

"The owners of this place only work their lazy ass when it's bike season. But they leave the neon lights on for whatever reason," Elesis started to say "Do you want to stay with us? We have booze and food!"

"Actually, I was going to stay on my own…"

"Come on, there's nothing to be worry about. We are road pals after all," Ara said with a wide smile, for being part of a bikers band she had a rather innocent aura around her.

"She's right! At least come tell us about your journeys, we rarely see a pretty dessert gem like you around here," Elesis added with a mellow tone. Aisha couldn't help but giggle and eventually followed them.

They showed her their bikes and even the inside of the RV. It was pretty comfy looking, especially compared with the old one. The kitchen was fully furnished, there was room for more than one bed and it even had a giant TV with a coach behind the driver seat. She didn't have any road story for them, but they still shared theirs with her. Time flowed quickly with them, and eventually they all started packing up and preparing some tents to sleep. Aisha sighed and check her phone.

"You've been like that all night," Elesis said, interrupting Aisha's moping "Is there something troubling you?"

"Well, it's just a… fight with my girlfriend."

"Oh, do you want to talk about it?" Elesis questioned. Aisha shook her head and started walking towards her RV, but Elesis still felt like she should do something "What about I take you for a ride?"

Aisha turned away to see Elesis smiling at her while pointing at her bike. Her bike was painted red and was specially modified. The fork was pushed backwards to make it more easy to drive and the seat was slightly longer.

"I can promise you, nothing beats a good ride when you need to get some stuff out of your head."

"Ok, fine."

They hopped onto the bike and got driving. Instead of the road, Elesis choose a dirt path right next to the motel. It headed into a tall rocky mound that had a road carved on top of it from the sheer use it had. It was apparently quite famous between bikers. Elesis was right though. The nice and cool night breeze caressing her face and the sweet purr of the bike's engine when going downhill was somewhat kind of relaxing. Aisha hold tight to Elesis' waist and rested her face half buried on Elesis' red hair.

"I just didn't want to be like a dead weight. She works so hard for both of us but all I can do is get some crappy jobs every now and then… It makes me feel frustrated."

Aisha started telling Elesis about what happen. Even with the engine running, they could easily hear each other.

"She seems to be a pretty uptight girl huh? But maybe that's not why she's angry. I mean, after working for an entire day so hard, I'm sure she's delighted from going back home and see you there."

"I-I know… but that's not the point. I'm happy to see her too of course, but why would she get so angry if I have work that day? Sometimes she has to stay overnight at the factory and I don't complain."

"But that must be it. Judging from what you told me I'm sure that she must be frustrated. Think about it, she works so hard for you two to be happy yet you still have to work extra sometimes."

Aisha stood silent, she hadn't think about it that way. She could clearly imagine her girlfriend frustrated for something like that. She always act tough, but Aisha knows how fragile she can be. Maybe she works so hard with the hope that she'll have Aisha always there...

Elesis finally parked the bike. They were at an isolated valley, on the other side of the rocky mound. The moon was full tonight and the stars were really pretty. They sat on a rock slab and stared at the sky.

"So, what do you think?" Elesis asked. There was a proud ring on her voice.

"It's a pretty place." Aisha answered.

"Not as pretty as you," Elesis added with her mellow tone again. Aisha had to giggle, but before she couldn't say anything else, Aisha saw Elesis moving next to her. The red head grabbed her by the arms and pulled her closer, pressing her lips against her.

Aisha was surprised. She reacted pretty slow as well. She pushed Elesis away and her first instinct was to slap her, but given how nervous and confused she was, she instead gave her a chop to the head.

"Hey! That hurt," Elesis complained, rubbing her head with a tear on her eye.

"I'm sorry… No, I mean, what are you doing?!"

Elesis rubbed her chin with a confused look "I thought we were going to make out."

"No! We were just talking about my girlfriend, what made you think about that? And what if Ara saw us? Are you out of your mind?!" Aisha started spitting out all kinds of questions in her nervousness until Elesis held her in place by her shoulders. No kiss this time, thankfully.

"Alright, alright, calm down. I'm sorry about that. Don't worry about Ara, both of us see other people sometimes and we don't mind. And I thought you were into it. I mean, you came with me here and all…" Elesis explained.

"I thought you brought me here to help me clear my head…"

"Well, yeah… And to make out."

Aisha sighed and shook her head. Elesis was so dumb that she couldn't help to start laughing. Even the red head joined the laugh, seeing the dumb situation they were in.

"Let's head back then… Again, sorry about that. I hope I made you feel better about your girlfriend."

She had a lot to think about. Aisha returned to her RV and was wondering about her girlfriend reasons to be mad when she saw a notification on her phone. There was a message from her:

_Aisha, I'm sorry for my late answer. I was scared about saying something that could hurt you. I've been lying to you. I don't dislike the choice you made or that you have to work. It was all for a selfish reason. I've been feeling depressed lately. All the time I spent on the factory I can't do nothing else but think about going back to your side. It's pretty stupid, but I even allowed it to get in our way. I made it look like you were the one causing trouble when it was all me. I try to hide this feelings from other people, but I can't hide them from you._

_I had an idea. We should talk about it. For now, I asked Raven about the RV. He said we can use it for a little longer if we want. So, tomorrow I'm going to meet up with you there. The picture you sent me is pretty beautiful. I got some free days from work, and I can't think of anything else than being with you._

_I love you Aisha._

Aisha stood there shocked. She wasn't expecting such a reply. After all, her girlfriend was also pretty stubborn of all things. But she was happy about it. With happiness tears in her eyes, she send her reply.

"I love you too Eve."


End file.
